Freeserve junks Inktomi, goes FAST

Search engine madness

Freeserve, the UK's biggest ISP, has picked FAST to run its search engine, directory and ecommerce search ops.

The software, from Norwegian firm Fast Search & Transfer, is replacing Inktomi technology, adopted by Le Freeswerve two years ago.

Freeserve told us it chose FAST for its "advanced search...", before running out of steam.

Hey, so it's not exactly earth shattering. But a nice win then for FAST, more bad news for Inktomi and disappointment - we guess - for the likes of Google and Overture. And who knows, the Freeserve win may help FAST get an in with the rest of Wanadoo, the UK ISP's French parent and owner of Voila, a leading European search engine.

This week FAST also announced that it won the search engine gig at Dell.com. Considering that Dell is an investor in FAST and that it is a reseller for FAST, the wonder is what took it so long. ®